Roger von Oech is one of my favourite writers about creative thinking, so when I heard he had produced an iPhone version of his Creative Whack Pack cards, I asked if he’d be willing to answer some questions about it for Lateral Action readers. Here’s what he had to say…
1. Over the years, you’ve taught creativity in a variety of formats — books, cards, seminars, a magnetic toy (the Ball of Whacks) and now an iPhone application. What prompted you to make something for the iPhone?
Ever since the Apple App Store was announced a year ago, I knew that I would be creating a Creative Whack Pack version for iPhone platform. I didn’t have time to work on it until this past December. I then spent three months working with an Austin developer, Phil Dhingra.
This was a great experience working with Phil. We spent a lot of time conceptualizing the design and then implementing the ideas. I did a lot of the PhotoShop and HTML work on the product, and as a result, my skills in those areas really improved.
Here’s a key lesson: when moving from one platform to another (in this case, from a card deck to a smart phone), it’s important not to just cram your existing ideas into the new space. It’s critical to take time to understand the possibilities and limitations of the new medium, and then design from there.
2. How does the iPhone version of the Creative Whack Pack work? What can it do?
The basic model of the Creative whack Pack card deck is still there: 64 illustrated creativity strategies.
But because I’m not limited to the small area on the card front (as is the case in the physical card), each card in the iPhone version has room for a lot more examples, illustrations, stories, exercises, and questions.
I had two uses in mind when creating the iPhone version: 1) have each card be stimulating enough that it could provide the user with a 30-second “quick hit of creativity,” and 2) be robust enough to allow the user to apply it in a 10-minute creativity workshop (that is part of the iPhone version experience).
Here are some of the main functions of the Creative Whack Pack:
- Give the user a “Whack of the Day.” Every user on the planet receives the same “Whack of the Day” and it changes every twenty-four hours. The “Whack of the Day” is a great way to begin your morning. It’s never what you expect and it’s always a lot of fun!
- There is a “Give Me A Whack” function. Let’s say you’re in a meeting, and you need a different perspective. Just hit this button and you’ll get a new creativity strategy.
- The Creative Whack Pack comes into its full glory when you use it in a Creative Workshop. There are four different types of workshop. These really make you think.
- There’s an Index of the cards that allows you to study specific creativity strategies. This is quite useful when working with other people.
- Finally there is a “Share A Whack” feature that allows the user to share a particular creativity strategy with another person via email.
3. Having the Creative Whack Pack on your iPhone means that wherever you go you’ll have ‘a creativity workshop in your pocket’ (to use David Armano’s phrase). What are the implications for daily creativity?
It means wherever you go, there’s always an opportunity to give yourself a “quick hit of creativity,” or to do a creative workshop (especially effective with other people). I’m getting a lot of positive mail from people who are doing just that.
4. With the iPhone, Android phones and netbooks all flying off the shelves at the moment, it looks as though personal mobile computing has arrived. How do you see mobile computing developing in future — and what are the opportunities for stimulating and harnessing our creativity?
I think this is fantastic. I hope in future versions of the Creative Whack Pack, I can create a function that allows users to create their own creativity cards that can be added to the “deck” and shared with others around the world.
It should be fun to watch all of this develop. I’m glad to be a part of it.
Good luck to all of your readers!
Roger von Oech is the author of the bestselling creativity classics A Whack on the Side of the Head and A Kick in the Seat of the Pants, and the creator of the Creative Whack Pack and the Ball of Whacks. For more creative inspiration, visit Roger’s Creative Think website.
View Comments (10)
The Creative Whack Pack for iPhone is a sterling example of how to use the transition from a paper-based tool (a card deck) to an electronic one as an opportunity to significantly enhance it in the process. This "creativity workshop in your pocket" makes the most of the iPhone's capabilities, opening up new opportunities for ideation, any time, anywhere. It's also an excellent example of instructional design. Kudos to Roger and Phil for creating an awesome creativity tool!
Last month, I wrote a review of the Creative Whack Pack for iPhone that explains more about how it works and some of its its coolest features.
I haven't heard of the creative whack pack, but from reading about it now, it sounds great. I'm tempted to get the Ball of whacks but am pretty sure I could play with it all day without doing anything else!
It's great that roger mentions the opportunities and limitations of moving into a different medium as I think this is what gives sustainability and growth to a product or business. Especially now when more businesses are moving into the online arena and getting involved in new methods of promotion.
Sounds very cool. I just got the app, and I'm looking forward to checking it out!
Great to see someone bringing a successful paper product to the iPhone! It's wonderful to have this sort of information in a pocketable format, and I feel that a dip-in virtual deck is more palatable than an ebook in this case.
There's a lot of scope for building on the idea too -- I really like the concept of a shared deck and, with the iPhone OS3 SDK, you'll be able to sell additional add-on packs via the app itself if you choose to.
@Nick - do I sense an iToDoodlist in the offing? :-)
Roger con Oech is one of my favorite creativity writers as well, and I especially like how he didn't just take the same idea and just made it "look" different by putting it on an iphone, but he actually sat down to examine how he could stretch the concept of his whack pack and improve upon it once he had a new medium to explore.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the nice "shout out" for the new Creative Whack Pack App. It was a joy to create, and it's been a real kick to launch it into the marketplace. Your exposure helps immensely.
It'll be interesting to see what sorts of things (content) will be on our smart devices in the next three years.
Best wishes to you and your readers!
How fun that you interviewed von Oech!! I've been learning from him, oh, yea-these-many-years, finding his first book around the time I was working with Buzan's mind maps.
Two things I'm super excited about - the iPhone app, which I bought and downloaded faster than a speeding bullet once I realized it was available, and am using it often. Roger has this way of making things just disturbing enough to open up brain areas, while waving nice colored streamers to draw out the imagination. Ahhhh...
The other thing is his idea for users to create their own "creativity cards," oh, boy, and share them worldwide -- that speaks directly to how I've seen the 'net unfolding since Peter Russell described the Global Brain -- massive scale creativity shared, giving us a tremendous new plateau for innovation.
Are we there? I think we might be!
Thanks for this great article.
Suzanna Stinnett
@Mark -- I don't think I'll ever bring Todoodlist to the iPhone, but I'm building something else that will be in the App Store later this year...
@Roger -- Purchased the app yesterday and have already fallen in love with it. The insights are priceless. I hope you'll find a new audience of creative folk like me who may not have otherwise bought the physical deck.
@Nick - I'm intrigued. Don't forget LA for an interview when it's time to launch... ;-)